are "foreign" names ok in the UK playground?

Svalbardy - Oh wow! lucky you. Were you in Longyearbyen? I'd love to go back, Svalbard has a huge place in my soul. I think it is partly because I was there at an impressionable stage (my year off). What's new there?

I was 20 and everyone said I couldn't do it.

My first name is a very common name. Ther were always two or three of around at school. I hated it for that reason. And went I left the state for Uni I changed my name to nickname of my middle name. I was 20 and everyone said I could do it. ANd I said "watch me". And I did. So, you see, it doesn't matter what you want your child to be called all her life, she may have other ideas.

I think Sophia or Sofia is lovely and totally non poncey!!

I have called my daughter Mafalda which is a family name and I am Italian. She will almost certainly be the only girl at school with that name. I also have a foreign name and hated it as school until about 11 until I realised how wonderful it was to be unique and not be one of 6 Catherines in the class!

Sorry. What a rude horrible comment I just made.

Galway girl, yes I'm from Dublin, and Clodagh made me think of ladies who play bridge and wear cashmere and pearls and speak beautifully and live in Rathgar or Ballsbridge. So to float the name in London and hear my friends say "nah, reminds me of Claddagh rings!" was a shock! But I'm really glad I ran it past them!

Sorry to offend your heritage by dissing the claddagh ring. I think it was a nice idea once upon a time but it became too commercial and became a victim of its own success. But doesn't, or shouldn't take away from its heritage.... despite the fact that it reminds me of knackers.

Forin' names seem to be ok for all the forin' kids at ds's school.

Svalbardy, I guess it will depend where in the UK you are. I grew up in Aus like you and there were 2 Genevieve's in my year at school! (in Sydney) and a high percentage of my year had non-anglo names. You would find the same would be true of most London schools, but maybe not so much in rural areas.
So how are you really meant to pronounce Genevieve? I don't remember it ever being an issue, at school, but then very few Australians speak French!
How do you pronounce Solveig? It looks pretty, but if I was reading it on a class roll, I would be concerned that I would get it wrong.

I have an Italian name, DD has a Spanish name, DH has a Hebrew name. We are an English family but both sides of the family have lived abroad a lot. No probs so far (ok - I get a lot of blank stares from little old ladies in supermarkets when I tell them DD's name but it doesn't bother me).

I think it would sound wierd if we called our next child a very traditionally English name.

I guess it does depend how multi-cultural your area is. No one would turn a hair round here.

Your MN name is reminding me of the 4 months I spent in Svalbard 15 years ago.... cold but nice.

Solveig is lovely.

Liffey - whatever about the other meanings that Claddagh thing has put me right off hahaha
from not too far from the Claddagh myself actually Are you from Dublin?

MmmeTussauds - Connor is a lovely name, sorry for not mentioning that earlier!

moonincancer - not surprised at the IKEA connection as Solveig is a Scandinavian name, but beautiful nonetheless

loobylu3 - totally agree on needing the connection, my DH is Swedish so that is why I'm considering it (for my yet to be conceived daughter!)

We had a friend called Vladimir, from Poland. He got called Vladi. It is not so unusual in Germany where we were living, I always liked it.

Btw, DD has an (for German/Swiss) unusual name and she told me recently that she is glad that she has an unusual name as she would not like to be another Sophie or Anna like all the other DCs.

We gave eldest a "foreign" name (as we were technically "foreign" too) and it was hard for her to learn how to write her name -it didn't look like it sounded in English; her teachers couldn't pronounce it and nor could anyone official eg doctors etc.

Choose whatever name you like but bear the above in mind!

My real name is 'foreign' and I was never teased for it (I have only met 2 people with my name in rl).

I liked having a different name, kids can be very accepting.

I don't think that having an unusual foreign name is a reason for teasing at school (provided that you have a good reason for using it- ie Scandanavian connections). Infact, if you are from another country but living in the UK, it is lovely to give your child a name which reflects their heritage. However, if there is a choice of names, it is worth choosing the one that is easier to pronounce as it must be very frustrated being called the wrong thing all your life!

solveig sounds like an ikea lamp to me. what a pleb. my husband is foreign. would love to call our son Vadym or Vlad but want to blend in...Jake anyone? out of interest, solveig sounding like a lamp name to me, what does vadym sound like to others? bleach maybe

Some lovely names and I do like Solveig a LOT, but confess that I deliberately gave my dcs names that would be quite easy to spell and pronounce and understand and remember - nothing to do with whether names are English or not - but please consider whether you are condemning your dc to a lifetime of spelling out their first name. maybe this is fine - after all lots of us always have to do it and we are alright! Personally... if you're planning on living in the UK... I think Solveig is on the right side of the line but Genéviève is a bit much. There are plenty of simple foreign names, like Jana, Heli, Ara, Kasia, Mie, Lina, Astrid, Birgit, etc etc, that kind of thing, which tick my box

A Scandinavian woman is starting at my work and an email went round today from her line manager saying "XX is starting with us on Monday, no idea how to pronounce her name and haven't even started on the surname" !?

Galway girl, I thought of Clodagh in 2002 when I was pregnant and living in the UK. But people said to me "oh like Claddagh rings?" which put me off!!

We did think about calling DS by his second name, but he is just a little Connor. He would not suit his second name, it is not him. There are a lot of expats in this are so they are used to unusual names.

One of DD's teachers is called Genéviève and I always stumble over her name, DD can pronounce it perfectly after only 2 weeks of school.

You do have to be careful - quite liked Peter when ds was born - we were in a French-speaking country where it means (with accents added in ) to trump so no go there!

I love Pierre and Solenne and Camille but wasn't brave enough to give those names to my kids in case British brains couldn't cope, though realise now should have gone for them!

Liffey - can't believe such a lovely name has such awful meanings. I has thought it would be a nice Irish one you could use and people could pronounce fairly easily not like some of my other faves which include Béibhinn and Caoimhe

Tiramissu - your daughters will be fine, Sophia is a beautiful name

Svalbardy,
i was thinking the same yesterday when reading another thread. I didn't know that Sophia is 'poncey' name. My daughter is Sophia. But DH is Greek Cypriot and this is his mother's name so we had to call her Sophia. And my other dd has a name from Greek mythology. Both names are very common in Cyprus and Greece and far from poncey.
But i was thinking omg if we go back to UK they will call us poncey???
But i guess this only applies if the family is British? Surely people understand that we have to choose names that have a connection with family or homeland?
But still i would think that if you choose a foreign name try to make it easy one. The name you suggest is nice but will it be easy for other children to call it?